Stages of toddler sleep

Judging by the behavior of our kid, falling asleep is apparently a learned behavior. Like many things about babies, this came as a complete surprise to me. Like many other things in life that occupy more or less all of your available time, I’ve come to (um) enjoy distinctions in the phases and qualities of a child’s sleep that I never knew existed.

Stage 5: Blind panic. Arms windmill against the matress, feet pump up and down, head whips from side to side; it’s like he’s possessed by a jack hammer. Ear-piercing wailing. The cat bails to the other side of the house.

A hypnic or hypnagogic jerk is an involuntary myoclonic twitch which occurs during hypnagogia, just as the subject is beginning to fall asleep. Physically, they resemble the “jump” made when a person is startled.

Often accompanied by a falling sensation, it is commonly caused by irregular sleep schedules.